Steins;Gate Montage Neurosis | Q's Anime Video Review

A Progressive Grind Through Okabe & Makise Kurisu's Thrilling Journey Through Time, With Confrontational, Subtle Yet Robust Drama ~ To my knowledge no one else asides White Fox has made an anime including time travel since and better.

Our first of many more Youtube video's to come ~

Shinsekai Yori (From The New World) | Q's Anime Review

Timely Romanticism & Compelling Mystery
Shinsekai Yori (25 Episodes Single Season) 8.82 out of 10 Stars

Shinsekai Yori (From The New World) is a deeply personal memorandum that covers Saki's raw, unfiltered & spotted story in navigating through friendship, love, tragedy. Where the story is compelling, unique and beautiful in it's sense of culture & adventure - It is equally terrifying, disturbing and heartbreaking. In that beneath the utopic & pleasant offset is an underlying mystery & the horrifying evils necessary to preserve it. The sense of Karma is unmistakable as Yusuke Kishi's masterwork which took 30 years of planning is brilliant, being that for the initially pleasant & hopelessly innocent childhood Saki & her friends are able to enjoy and even what the entire foundation that the archipelago of Japan is built upon in this post modern society, was rudely founded upon the horrifying sacrifice of countless innocents and the backs of many more countless slaves, along with a millennia of meaningless slaughter. Being where Saki's entire idea life in the village consisting of romance, friendship and adventure, Saki & friend's unquestioned existence is ripped completely apart. As their innocent curiosity is the violent catalyst that unfolds the buried horrifying origins of humanity, their village, queerats and Cantus, secrets that all are forbidden from learning.

Yusuke Kishi
[Author & Original Creator]

This being the first of many steps of a simple, yet humble queerat's decade long plot to rein the fires of catastrophe over the ignorant existence of humanity & the entire archipelago of Japan. Shinsekai Yori is a beautifully haunting and a emotionally violent story that questions humanity, revealing the base instincts that come even from those with the godlike powers that the people of Kamisu District 66 call Cantus. Depicting how we still yet try to put ourselves above other species to justify our means and hypocrisy, at all humanities attempts to separate ourselves from the likes of animals and other sapient beings, even if we can't escape from our most base of instincts no matter how much we dabble with intellectual pursuits, politics & perhaps our perception of morality. Where Group One's youthful innocence of experiencing timeless moments of joy & friendship, is washed over by a horrifying wave of secrets & tragic events to which they'd never see their world the same again.

Welcome to The New World ~

Clannad | Q's Anime Review & Commentary

A Potent Life Encompassing Story of Youth, Innocence, Love, Loss & Romance 
Clannad (47 Episodes 2 Ova's Two Seasons)8.78 out of ten

Angst, heartbreak, regret, innocence, teardrops, youth.. This is Clannad. A potent part of the Kyoto and Key holy trinity and arguably the best out of the three. While I like many others continue to follow Kyoto animation as well as Key, I feel that Clannad really became a foundational staple for both both parties marking a fine eye point in both their catalogues regarding the shared success and critical reception of Clannad. As when most of us think about the absolute best works from Kyo Ani & Key, a lot of us look back at Kyo Ani & Key's partnership in the early to mid 2000's as the most fond, where the stars seemingly alined and where the majority people would tip their hat in respect to both the visual novel and anime medium in what they are both capable of in terms of telling a story.

Jun Maeda
[Lead Scenario Writer &]
[Music Composition]

While not the first project of the Kyo Ani/Key relationship, there's no doubt in mind that it was the most significant, being that it was the culmination and the fruits of their labour that would mark the end of the Kyo Ani x Key saga and would begin Kyoto Animation's new beginning of carving their path into becoming the most beloved & respected animation force in the industry today. Being that one of the three main scenario writers for Clannad Jun Maeda felt as if his work on Key's last project "Air" was difficult for some viewers to understand, feeling a duty to write Clannad so it'd be easier to understand & receive, in that he championed the creative process behind Clannad's scenario as the most ambitious of his work.

"Clannad is a wall I can never cross again" Jun Maeda [October 11, 2007 Degeki G's Magazine]

In my mind Clannad was the most honest and life encompassing story of the three, & while it has more than it's fair share of going through the motions of established cliche's and narrative loops that concerns the Moe/Slice of life genre in general, what separates Clannad from most of it's peers and predecessors is that the story goes through the natural succession beyond the closet of a story set strictly in a high school setting. As Clannad is Tomoya's life encompassing story of love, joy, regret and tragedy, with beautiful mix of setting and character driven story that's equally atmospheric as it is goofy and sweet. It's a patient family soap opera that sets the stage for it's climatic moments early on through it's details and composition of the individual stages of the story, in how they connect and empower one another. As Jun Maeda & Fumuhiko Shimo we're able to bring the story to a full circle while maintaining a subliminal progression and tempo, having each moment resonate while keeping in mind the composition of the emotional flow, dynamic and flavour of the series throughout the span of 47 episodes. As Clannad is arguably the Pinnacle of the Nakige genre.

Kara No Kyoukai (The Garden Of Sinners) | Q's Anime Review

A Complete Series Anthology - Mythical, Complicated, Yet Beautifully Compelling
Kara No Kyoukai (8 Films - 2 Shorts/Specials) 8.34 out of 10 Stars

Kara No Kyoukai was a incredibly breathtaking & mythical production for it's time, marking Hikaru Kondo's Ufotable breakout animation that garnered national attention with team Ufotable's dazzling post production digital effects and CGI - First alongside the rise of it's other peers such as the revamped Shaft with team Shinbo on Bakemonogatari & Naoko Yamada's K On from Kyo Ani. Lately I've talking alot about the early & mid 2000's transition period into incorporating digital colouring techniques (Otherwise known as Digipaint) & CG - And while it certainly was a rough transition, that changed everything from broadcasting standards, production flows to introducing the beginning of the Bluray and DVD format wars, it also so happens to mark the rise of yet another animation tour de force in Ufotable's heavily emphasized post production digital effects and CGI, animating the hesitant Nasu Kinoko's Kara No Kyoukai light novels originally self published online some 18 - 19 years ago. You see, in the years following Nasu Kinoko's amateur debut as a writer, his work was later on edited and refined for official release by the publisher Kodansha in 2004. In that the popularity of his works garnered interest from the animation industry to adapt his works, though he was quick to decline, citing that he just felt that Kara No Kyoukai was never meant to be filmed or animated, being that he felt, if it was animated in to a TV series, audiences attention spans would wane & it would be hard to understand, having to condense and compress way to much of the original story, into enjoyable 20 minute segments that could carry on from a weekly basis -

"Certain people have been wanting to make Kara no Kyoukai into an anime for a while now, but it isn't a story which really lends itself to being filmed, so I always turned them down." - Kinoko Nasu [Akiba Blog September 2007]

The same could be said of a standalone movie as well, though later on he was approached by Kondansha's Oota Katsushi with an offer Kinoko Nasu couldn't refuse - 

"..."I was thinking of teaming up with Aniplex and ufotable and making Kara no Kyoukai into a consecutive seven-movie release; what do you think?" It was such an off-the-wall idea that I got caught up in the enthusiasm; the offer was so awesome that turning it down seemed rude, so I agreed readily." - Oota Katsushi's offer according to Kinoko Nasu [Akiba Blog September 2007]

Kinoko Nasu
[Original Creator]

Hikaru Kondo
[President & Producer]

10 years later, after much confusion & negative press over the non linearity of Kara No Kyoukai's lack of a chronological order, we're left with a modern day classic & a touch stone to the one of few animation breakouts within the 2007-2009 that challenged the entire industry to eventually make the full transition into incorporating the related digital processes into animator work flows. Not only that, but now that the dust has settled, and we have each of the 10 films (depends on how you count) laid out before us, has it really held up to facet of time? Does our unexpected heroine Shiki & Kokuto's story of finding identity, navigating morality & reconditioning the heart still hold it's same magic as it did once before?

Today were taking a special deep dive here to find out exactly what up - 10 years later

Bokurano: Ours | Q's Anime Review & Commentary

An Interesting, Salacious & Juicy take on a Myriad of Individuals 
Bokurano:Ours (24 Episodes Single Season) 8.58 out of 10 Stars


Bokurano Truly just about has a little bit of everything, there's a dash of a darker taboo of romance, has family dynamics, a little bit of comedy along the way, as well as being heavy in drama in it's science fiction & physiologically idiosyncratic premise. Though there's also more plush and sublime moments of happiness and peace, enough to actually bring me to tears on occasion, having the depth and urgent subject matter to sway my heart into a state of emergency. In Bokurano we have a full cast of characters that initially had me intrigued from the first episode, you'll find yourself asking " who's he/she, there's something interesting going on there, I want to learn more about his/her story" etc. Especially since the character designs are so humanely depicted in the most ordinary sense of the word. From the lush green environments, the city gardens, to the giant robots, this is something that you just look at and accept, and I feel that's a very key component to have.

From the start we're introduced to a gorgeous opening theme, with great lyrics, vocals, percussion, a tickle of synth & some guitar, just a little bit of every thing. I stepped back thinking "yes I've heard this somewhere before" such as Neon Geneiss Evangellion's soundtrack, or "Cyber bird" from Yoko Kanno's work on Ghost in the shell SAC. Coincidently, if you've watched both of those series, with both of their heavily Sci fi, idiosyncratic and psychological premises, you should absolutely check out how much Bokurano has to offer.. 

Chihayafuru | Q's Anime Review & Commentary

Incredibly Fiery Drama, With Blazing Competitiveness & A Potent Warmth 
Chihayafuru (II seasons 48 episodes Ongoing) 9.07 out of ten stars (Full Review)

A poetry card game called Karuta played in a competitive manner, with exciting velocity, nuance and transient dynamism, we have Chihayafuru. See this is one of those anime you might just write off because it looks far too bubbly or gooey in terms of idealism and sentimentality. Fret not, this an Ace production from Madhouse, with a high gear sound track and beautiful animation, regarding both art style as well as production style/quality.

This absolutely radiates the childhood innocence of competitive play and it's magnetic allure, and the progressive nature to want to constantly improve and strive to be the best. We see interesting rivalries between a prodigy of an eternal grand master Arata and a dedicated guy with an iron wit Taichi. It also has characters biding their romantic feelings for each other, for those of you interested in a Romance sub plot...

Shirobako!! Stuff We Like!! Quick Review & Commentary

It's a new day, so lets start it off with Shirobako.
A Rosy, Robust & Jubilantly Exciting Anime Production 

Shirobako (24 Episodes Single Season)

Shirobako, an anime that gives us a somewhat rosy, but none the less solid and satisfying take on what goes on behind the scenes and the people responsible for making anime. Aoi Miyamori, our light bronze haired female lead takes the role of a production assistant and later a production manager, so we get a general oversight of characters she has to manage, keep track of an up to date with & with the problems that arise we get an introduction to each character in the studio, who they are, the details of their job and how that relates to the problem that needs to be fixed to meet deadlines. Also we get nice insight on 4 other of her friends that serve as additional main characters, though Aoi Miyamori seems to be our main gal for the majority of the show.

Seeing that Shirobako had heart warming moments within a group of friends busty with their daily lives with the spare time they had was very encouraging, Shirobako warranted more investment right off the bat. At Musashino animation, where pretty much all of our 5 main character eventual congregate to, is a anime production studio that contracts itself to produce anime while it airs, which is quite common since it's less expensive. This of course brings deadlines & that's where our problems lie, with the people involved and how Aoi Miyamori helps to understand these people & their problems, to eventual arrive at a solution.

Kabaneri of The Iron Fortress!! Stuff We like!! Quick Review & Commentary

Nicely Solid Storytelling chops, Pulp Action Scenes & it's Compelling & Satisfying to Enjoy 
Kabaneri Of the Iron Fortress (12 Episodes Single Season Ongoing) 8.34 out of ten

            Having concluded a pretty much a week ago, I thought it'd be a great idea to do some commentary on this popular high grossing series. I was pretty stoked to find out that Wit studio was going to be coming out with a new series, especially being witness the the greatness of what Attack on Titan accomplished. So in the early Spring I decided to take a glimpse of what so many people were pumping and hyping up.

            I wasn't all to impressed or pumped, but I did stick around and it was worth it. Around the 7-8th episode is when things actually started to get interesting and when it concluded I felt pretty content about it, though the ending was somewhat predictable. For the first few episodes also had sort of cheesy heroics and a bit of basic narrative, the drama and regular interactions between characters were nothing special, just what you'd expect, I found myself rolling my eyes at some of the more cliche moments, as I was very on point with my predictions since this fiction is quite obvious and predictable.

Bokurano: Ours Quick Review & Commentary + Q's Wall of Fame Induction

An Interesting, Salacious & Juicy take on a Myriad of Individuals 
Bokurano: Ours (Single Season 24 Episodes) 8.78 out of ten

            Bokurano:Ours Truly just about has a little bit of everything, there's a dash of a darker taboo of romance, has family dynamics, there's a little bit of comedy, it's heavy in drama and insecurity, there's moments of happiness and peace, states of urgency, a little science fiction and a physiologically idiosyncratic premise. In Bokurano we have a full cast of characters that already draws intrigue from the first episode, you'll find yourself asking " who's he/she, there's something interesting going on there, I want to learn his story" etc. Especially since the character designs are great as well as intricate and the setting and environments they're in are well designed as well, this is something that you just look at and accept, and I feel that's a very key component to have. There's no one liner I could give a person to sell them on this series, so I kinda felt bummed.

            From the batting point were introduced to a gorgeously made opening soundtrack, with great lyrics, vocals, percussion, a tickle of synth & some guitar, just a little bit of every thing.

 I stepped back thinking "yes I've heard this somewhere before" such as Neon Geneiss Evangellion's soundtrack, or "Cyber bird" from Yoko Kanno's work on Ghost in the shell SAC. Coincidently, if you've watched both of those series, with both of their heavily sci fi, idiosyncratic and psychological premises, you should absolutely watch Bokurano. 

From the get go you'll also see the great art direction this has, it's tidy, but warm and slightly softer, a cast that has the creators full investment regarding some of the stunning and very interesting character designs as well as a great dub that translates this all really well.

This series gives us a colourfully juicy but grim take on a great variety of 15 children/teens (16 sort of) from a summer nature school deceived into being contracted into being put into a position of being wrested into saving the world in exchange for the high price of giving up their lives. We watch a myriad of characters that are forced into nervously rouletting there lives one at a time disturbing the delicate lives they've walked until now. In Bokurano we get a span of uniquely different individuals and how they are now forced to think and inflect upon, when getting shot up an emotional ether of a myriad of emotions, to think their lives had any significance in the short years they were blessed and if they're ready to exchange their lives for something important in this world. When the time comes, we get a stand alone episode of who they were and their relationships with other people before they found the mech they named Zearth that they now have to pilot with their life force.

              This is a 2007 anime with very good animation for the time & does still stand up to some of our current animation today, though it looks slightly dated, but for me it was homely and easy on the eyes. I Found the character designs to be excellent, the voice actors chosen to portray these characters were carefully chosen, and chosen well indeed. There's only the Japanese dub, and let me tell you it's great. I feel at the time this was a very high quality anime regarding video quality, and you could tell they put top effort and priority into making the character designs, including the environments (which are fantastic), and the general over art style was simply just so well fleshed out.

           So yes 15 children/teens (sort of 16) that have been deceived into being forcibly contracted (later 17 18 people contracted) into saving the world by giving up their lives

..yes..yes.. So this gets pshycological, this gets Idiosyncratic, this gets neurotic..this gets Erotic..(lol)so..uh..Larp/Erp..no I'm joking there's none of that.

Yes this has a full fleshed out cast with variety, which is one of the reasons why this series scores top marks for me, Despite the actual video quality not being all there and being done since and better, but still, you can very much still appreciate this anime and the gorgeous well thought out art style, some good stuff. So yes you'll be able to install this series very deeply into your heart and emotional memory and enjoy. Facial expressions in this anime are quite notable and very good, they all have a story in their eyes, which is very important.

               You have assholes, hot heads,  introverts, subservient and docile characters, shut in's, boyish girls, pushovers, polite girls, jovial personalities, neurotic psychopaths and an asshole floating in the air..yes..I don't want to reveal much about him, so lets just say this asshole fairy like character adds a nice spice to this anime. This anime has pretty much a little bit of everything, and very believable cast, and I'd almost recommend this anime with no hesitation, but yes I understand there's some adult content and very mature themes, so very much PG14+ content here, but even so I really think you should only watch this series if your 16+. I mean, there is indeed some very controversial content so think twice if your not at that mature age yet.

               Speaking of the heavily emotional content and mature themes, yes, this show is re-watchable, but still there's again a lot of heavy emotional weight on this series so this is the perfect anime for you to take time to digest, so don't go binging this, this series takes time to sink in and think about. Also your probably asking yourself "if the the characters die off that quickly why should I watch this" Don't get me wrong some do, but you'll probably won't find them as important and you won't see people dropping like flies since each of them are given a little bit of space and time before the day comes. So yes when their time "comes" they are given there own standalone episode, then we see what their about and their back story and that's the format of this anime for awhile.

                 Something that bothered me with this series, it's when someone dies and gets teleported away, it's truly as if they never existed. They do get soft mentions here and there but no one really seems all too traumatized. I think this is because only a very few of these characters we see regularly actually have meaningful relationships with each other, so when someone passes away we don't have anyone from our main cast mourning their death. Which brings me to another point, in that I wish these characters had more meaningful and robust relationships with each other, I just felt that this is somewhere were this series really missed the mark, I feel that, for the last survivors, it would be extremely interesting for them to truly feel like they are the survivors, that have survived this immense experience and in turn have this worldly feeling and awareness. Also mourning for the ones who gave up their lives for their own individual purpose, and maybe these survivors could draw fortitude and conviction from that. They sort of "touched upon this" but never really invested in this concept. All the stand alone episodes for individuals, when one of them were chosen revolves around only the individual and their inner circle of other friends and family, rarely including the other 15 contracted people.
             
         Talking about the story, there really isn't an emphasized over arching plot line, it only revolves around the fact that 15 were chosen and 15 will die, and let just say that one of them, perhaps may be saved.

But yes again, it focuses on who they were before the fact, why they're important and finally being in the act and finally giving their life for their own individual preconceived version of the world. Of course sometimes they don't want to, that's when they go bat shit crazy, and do some unnecessary, cruel, masochistic and sadistic things.

               You may have mistaken this as akin to Psycho Pass, Ghost in the Shell or Ergo Proxy in terms of the use and presence of the government, and the general consensus and meritocracy of it all, but no, this doesn't emphasize politics too much and is only a small factor in this series despite what you'd might think. It's more about these 15 individuals if anything else, and despite it's rather grim and nihilistic themes, this series does have a kind of dry sweetness to it, as well as jovial moments of happiness that gives us perspective of some of the bad moments and it turn makes this series stronger.

               Despite the many individual back stories were given, I can't really explain them (sadly one's that really interested me as well) without preserving some special moments and surprise for when you watch it, so my apologies for very very briefly talking about the characters back stories.

                This series has a wonderful and fleshed out art style, that's subtly sweet and matured.
A great soundtrack, very well designed and intriguing characters with great voice actors. In addition were given some meaty drama, bright family moments of happiness and jovial friendships. This series captivated me with some very interesting plot lines and characters. Everything from the great art style to the juicy and stylistic soundtrack deserve a hearty recommendation.

Highly recommended and Appreciated (Will Be inducted into Q's Wall of Fame)

Death Parade | Q's Anime Review & Commentary

A Madhouse Parallel : Death, Regret & Loss
Death Parade (12 Episodes Single Season 1 Ova)  8.47 out of 10


Death Parade in Winter 2015 was heartfelt, vivid & thrilling, with some occasional laughs & smiles along the way - Padding on even more juicy content to aide Madhouse's comeback montage from the grave. After Madhouse's exodus of both long time in house staff, founders and animators alike, many were left to quietly ponder what was next for the future of the animation giant Madhouse, loosing key creative talent Satoshi Kon after passing away in 2010 due to pancreatic cancer, leaving Co Founder and Key producer Masao Murayama with Kon's incomplete film - "Dreaming machine" which still remains 1/3rd done to this day due to financial difficulties, eventually leaving Madhouse to create studio MAPPA in hopes of one day completing it. After a novel anime such as Tatami Galaxy in 2010, the rest of the season was filled with uninspired & ill received marvel universe adaptations & sequels, which led to Madhouse remaining in a slump for the rest of the year & continuing so 2011 onwards. Until October, where Madhouse started rebuilding, slowly starting to getting the ball rolling once again with the Chihayafuru adaptation with remaining talents such as Morio Asaka being lead director - Directing one of my personal favourites of all time. A great start with Chihayafuru slowly but surely led to a string of other successes throughout 2012 & 2013 with series such as Btooom!

Eventually leading on to beginning Madhouse's red hot streak throughout 2014-2015, that had Madhouse booming with success with key adaptations of various titles, rewarding the loyalty & efforts to recuperate and rebuild Madhouse once again as a prominent and leading figure within the animation industry. While perhaps no longer a haven for both populist & contemporarily experimental productions, Madhouse was shockingly able to actually improve upon their past standards & loss of in house talents in a relatively short span of time, evidently reaching a fine eye point in terms of animation quality. Along with such transitional efforts, with series such as Death Parade & One Punch Man, not only is Madhouse keeping it fresh & entertaining, they're making a return to form, by keeping it emotional, with their tried & true traditions of good storytelling.

Death Parade stands testament to that - A story about Death, Regret & Loss,
 A Parallel to what Madhouse as a studio has had to deal within these past few years.

Jormungand | Q's Anime Review & Commentary

Invective & Seductive, With Magnetic Excitement & Dynamic Action 
Jormungand (24 Episodes II Seasons) 8.35 out of ten stars


Jormungand is a fast paced, high octane anime, with lots of gun porn, bullets, blades & babes. Often times, I find myself stacked on all too many slice of life series now a days, so it's refreshing to take another look at Jormungand - An anime that's action driven, violent and always exciting. Back in the day, I only primarily watched anime series that were preferably more action driven and had enough urgency to demand that I watched episode after episode, since I feel back then, I had far less tolerance for a story just to "dawdle" around - Being that I pretty much prohibited myself from watching Moe Moe type anime. Though this has changed entirely, as more and more Slice of life/Moe anime keep getting released and pilling up in my room, Jormungand is an anime that'll give you that extra kick you need or perhaps are used to, such as more progressive titles such as Ghost in the shell S.A.C, Fate Stay Night UBW, or perhaps Samurai Champloo - All beloved titles here at RedQStudios and Jormungand is no exception...

Steins;Gate | Q's Anime Review & Commentary

A Progressive Grind Through, With Confrontational, Subtle Yet Robust Drama 
Steins;Gate (24 Episodes Single Season + 1 Ova + 4 Ona's 1 Movie + ) 8.51 out of ten stars

Now You may be juggling around with this anime because it involves time travel.. I absolutely understand how the premise of it can be off putting, since many have tried yet failed to make a well fleshed out story with time travel mechanics that we're easy enough to understand and at least had something resembling continuity - Without a ridiculous amount of unmotivated expository dialogue. Though, right off the bat, I'll tell you that I had & would recommend this Steins;Gate in a heartbeat. Despite being third of the first three anime productions White Fox has produced, it's an awfully impressive and engaging watch, as despite not being perfect in terms of animation and art direction, Steins;Gate certainly excels in area's where it counts the most - Such as the Dub.

To my knowledge no one else asides from White Fox themselves has made an anime including time travel since and better. If your looking for the best crop of the bunch, this is it...